Cobbydog
Sixty Six packs across Britain use Cobbydog which includes foxhounds, fellhounds, harriers, beagles, bassets and bloodhounds. Some 3,000 hounds per day are fed Cobbydog products - a remarkable statistic which is growing day by day. Here Midge Todhunter talks to some of them.
The Border Foxhounds have one of the best hunting countries in the land and were one of the first packs to use Cobbydog. Michael Hedley, their master and huntsman of 35 years standing, needs no introduction and says he has happily fed their Hunt Country Working Hound since they gave up their flesh round in 1985.
Michael said: “The straight economics of collecting and feeding flesh became non-viable and we did feed tripes for a long time, but that too has become uneconomical as they’ve found new markets for tripes and they’ve subsequently shot up from 50p each to around £1,500 per tonne.
He says they currently get some butchers’ waste which makes up 1 ½ feeds per week, and the rest is now Cobbydog. He feeds the Hunt Country type which are circular biscuits which he scatters on the feed house floor, and draws his hounds to that.
“No cooking, no boiling – now’t. It’s a meaty ball about the size of a marble – they really do well on this, and we are more than happy with the results.”
Peterborough 07 Champion Hound Pendle Forest & Craven Passion ‘04
Pendle Forest and Craven huntsman Richard Lloyd has fed his harrier pack on Cobbydog for eight years. His hunt stopped collecting fallen stock during the 2000 Foot and Mouth epidemic and decided not to begin again thereafter.
As one of the country’s premier harrier packs, the PF&C have a remarkable record all the big hound shows in the north, and their hounds always look in tip-top condition.
Richard said: “I swear by Cobbydog and use nothing else. I use the hunt mix all year round and people often ask me what I feed them on – as their coats are always shining, and they look healthy. But we do also give them plenty of exercise.
“We support all the hound shows, and in the old days I’d have to bath the show hounds the day before, but not now. A quick bucket of water over them and they’re gleaming. There’s no grease on them like there was in the days of feeding flesh, no grease on the kennel walls, and no smell in kennels like before.”
Richard says his hounds work and hunt extremely well on Cobbydog. In the summer he soaks it with cold water - in the winter he soaks it with warm water, and feeds after 10 minutes.
John Holiday
John Holliday, huntsman of the Ledbury Hounds has been feeding Cobbydog for two years and is another strong believer in the mix. John has 35 couples in kennels and has a secret weapon for feeding his hounds: a friendly dairy farmer next door supplies John with surplus milk which he uses to soak the mix. And that really does make ‘em shine...
Bicester and Whaddon Chase huntsman Patrick Martin says he is very impressed with the Cobbydog mix. He has 56 couples in kennels, and says: “When I can get flesh I do feed it, which is about once a week, but other than that we feed nothing else but Cobbydog and I can’t speak too highly about it.”
“I use both the summer mix and the winter (hunting mix) for two years and it works very, very well. They always look well, they’re happy in themselves, and we never have hounds coming home from hunting with their sterns down, which is a testament to Cobbydog.
“We tried other feeds, but this is the best for us: they both look and hunt well on Cobbydog; the price is right, delivery is always there when you want it, and you can say the Champion hound at Builth Hound Show last week was our Daystar 03
Builth 08 Champion Hound Bicester with Whaddon Chase Daystar ‘04
Huntsman John Goode at the Brocklesby, one of the noted Old English packs, has 44 couple in kennels, and virtually feeds nothing else but Cobbydog.
John Goode
John said: “I think it’s bloody good stuff, and our hounds do really well on Cobbydog. I feed it right through the hunting season: the hounds do well, look well, and hunt well. Proof of the pudding is in the eating. I feed the Kennel Mix all year round.
John collected plenty of prizes in the Old English rings at Peterborough last year, and said: “We had a very good Peterborough last year, but that doesn’t happen every year, but we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for this time.”
The Albany Basset Hounds have been fed on nothing else but Cobbydog for the last three years. Their master and huntsman Jeremy Ward said: “They look well, and they work really on it. They gain a lot of weight very quickly on Cobbydog, and you have to watch that, but it’s easily managed.
In the Fells, Coniston Foxhounds chairman and joint-master Roger Westmoreland takes a hands-on approach to his pack and says Cobbydog is the one they stick with to feed their 46 hounds (23 couples). Like all fell packs, their hounds are trencher-fed in the summer, and the Coniston hounds all come back to kennels for hunting on the day of the famous Vale of Rydal Hound Show - this year on Thursday 14 August (starts 11am).
Roger, who was looking after his Coniston Foxhounds while his son-in-law and huntsman Michael Nicholson was on holiday, said: “In actual fact, they’ve just delivered us a ton of Cobbydog today. We’re very pleased with it and feed it all the time. We don’t feed flesh anymore, but do occasionally feed some cow tripes. They do really well on Cobbydog and hunt well on it.”
Roger Westmoreland at Rydal 07
Roger is a straight talker, and his testament is worthy of full note, as he’s also ‘one hell of a hound man’. He’s also a walking stud book when it comes to fell hound breeding.
It’s interesting here to note that the late Johnny Richardson, famous huntsman of the Blencathra, once told this correspondent he never fed flesh more than once a week during the hunting season. “It goes for their noses”, he said, meaning it stopped them being deep scenting.
Cobbydog Contact Details:
Cobbydog Dalton Works Deal Street Keighley BD21 2LATel: 01535 681927 | Fax: 01535 609181
E-mail: cobbydog@cobbydog.com
Hunts supplied by Cobbydog
Airedale Beagles
Albrighton Foxhounds
Albrighton Woodland
Albany Basset Hounds
Border Hounds
Duke of Beauforts Hunt
Brocklesby Hunt
Bewcastle Hunt
Blencathra Hunt
Breadalbane Foxhounds
Bedale Hunt
Bicester and Whaddon Chase
Britannia Beagles
Coniston Foxhounds
Clifton on Teme
Christchurch and farley Hill
Coakham Bloodhounds
Clinkard Beagles
Cumberland Farmers
Cotswold Hunt
Derbyshire Foxhounds
Eton College Beagles
Easton Harriers
East Essex Hunt
Eryri Foxhounds
The Essex Hunt
Essex and Suffolk Kennels
Farmers Bloodhounds
Fourshire Bloodhounds
Fife Foxhounds
Glaisdale Hunt
Hursley Hambledon Hunt
Haydon Hunt
Hodder Valley Fox hounds
Holderness
Isle of Wight Foot Beagles
Jedforest Hunt
Kincardineshire Foxhounds
North Devon Beagles
Fowey Foxhounds
Ledbury Hunt LTD
Lochaber Fox HOunds
Modbury Harriers
Middleton Hunt
North Tyne
Pevensey Marsh Beagles
Pendle Forest and Craven Hunt
Pennine Foxhounds
Percy Hunt
Ross Harriers
Royal artillery Hunt
Saltersgate Farmers
Southern Shires Bloodhounds
The Suffolk
Surrey Union Foxhounds
Stowe Beagles
The Thurlow Hunt
Vale Royal Bloodhounds
Vine and Craven
Wensleydale Foxhounds
Worcestershire Hunt
Western Hunt Kennels
West Street Tickham Hunt
West Percy Hunt
Ytene Mink Hounds
Zetland Foxhounds